Lights: nice or not?

[Leedom]

I have been watching my headlights deteriorate more and more my the month and am looking at possible changing them. I keep looking at these (http://www.americanmuscle.com/9904-led-angleeye-projectors-black.html) and am trying to convince myself then work on the Mach and not on a civic. Any thoughts?

http://s7d4.scene7.com/s7viewers//dhtml/images/spacer.gif

[Vettezuki]

In my mind's eye they would look fine.

[Damian]

Just don't hook up the halos.

[Leedom]

Well if I was not going to hook up the halos then I would just get these (http://www.americanmuscle.com/94-04-black-projectors-dot.html).

[Shaolin Crane]

Uhm, no.

[Leedom]

Uhm, no.

I am starting to lean towards the plain smoked projectors ones now. What do you think about those?

[Shaolin Crane]

No, projectors like those don't belong on stangs. Actual legit conversions are the only option and even then look out of place. Just get some termi lights or redo yours and call it a day.

[Damian]

Well if I was not going to hook up the halos then I would just get these (http://www.americanmuscle.com/94-04-black-projectors-dot.html).

Those look better.

[Redondo Jon]

I don’t care for the Halos; too BMWish. And those three vertical lights – uhh, no. What’s wrong with the second choice...? By comparison I think those look a lot better.

[blackax]

I think both look good.

[enkeivette]

Halos look cool, my friend had them on his Ranger.

[Leedom]

I am at least shelving this purchase for the time being. Just did the taxes and lets say Uncle Sam wants our money. I am thinking about sanding and clear coating my stock lights and maybe even smoking them a little. At the same time smoking the tailights. I would love a hand with doing this Adam as I know you have done this many times now. I would do all the prep work and only use you as a guide on my painting journey if you have some time a little bit down the road.

[Shaolin Crane]

Don't clear coat them, just sand them, almost excessively starting with 1000 grit, then 1500, then 3000 then some metal polish. They'll look like new and wont require sealing.

[enkeivette]

Im with Guy, no need to clear coat, just sand and polish. Unless you already have the materials its not cost effective even. Clear coat is $70 a quart for the cheap stuff and candy black tint is another $60 - $80. Plus $20 for laquer thinner and then some for cups and strainers. I only do lenses when I have left over clear from a bigger project I was doing.

But I dont know about 3000 grit... Depending on how bad they are you could start with 400 or even 320, and work your way up to 2000, but turtle wax polishing compound will take out 2000 grit scratches.

If theyre bad start with 320 (always wet), then 400, then 600 on up. Sand perpendicular to the way you sanded with the previous grit so youll know when the rougher scratches are gone. If theyre not so bad you can start with 600 or 800. Id prob go 600 till the water looks milky white (keep going if its milky yellow) then 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, polish.

Clear coating just saves time sanding and buffing because you can clear over as low as 400 grit. But its not cost effective unless youre already set up to spray.

[Leedom]

Cool thanks guys.

[Vettezuki]

Im with Guy, no need to clear coat, just sand and polish. Unless you already have the materials its not cost effective even. Clear coat is $70 a quart for the cheap stuff and candy black tint is another $60 - $80. Plus $20 for laquer thinner and then some for cups and strainers. I only do lenses when I have left over clear from a bigger project I was doing.

But I dont know about 3000 grit... Depending on how bad they are you could start with 400 or even 320, and work your way up to 2000, but turtle wax polishing compound will take out 2000 grit scratches.

If theyre bad start with 320 (always wet), then 400, then 600 on up. Sand perpendicular to the way you sanded with the previous grit so youll know when the rougher scratches are gone. If theyre not so bad you can start with 600 or 800. Id prob go 600 till the water looks milky white (keep going if its milky yellow) then 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, polish.

Clear coating just saves time sanding and buffing because you can clear over as low as 400 grit. But its not cost effective unless youre already set up to spray.

Don't they have clear in can, or is that shit just nasty?

[Damian]

Use this: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Car/Care/DIY_Projects/Maintenance/Restoring_a_Headlight/
I've used it on a couple different cars and it works great, but doesn't last forever. All parts stores carry it.

[enkeivette]

Don't they have clear in can, or is that shit just nasty?

No they do, itll work, but it doesnt have UV protection. So it wont last long, then youll have to sand all of it off.

If he's too lazy to sand high and polish he should just spray his lights when hes ready to do his fenders. He can use the leftover clear from that.

And if youre too cheap to buy candy black dye you can technically tint clear with black paint. I tinted some leftover clear with metallic black and blue spray paint as an experiment... it worked.

Important thing is to do straight clear over whatever you do to protect it.

791

[enkeivette]

...Doing candy requires a ton of material though. You generally need 5-6 coats of tint and then 3 coats of clear. We used half a quart just doing my friends tail-lights.